Michael Ripinski

Jack's Hot Dog Michael Ripinski

Publisher Marketing: In North Toledo, the Summer of 1967 is remembered by a series of events the helped shape the destiny of two teenage boys. The abduction of Annie Hobbs, the explosion of a local restaurant and the disappearance of a mysterious young man known as Wizzer are the backstory for a series of related but unsolved crimes. Annie's brother Bart and his friend Vince, narrowly escape injury on the day the restaurant is blown into a pile of rubble killing the owner and the cook. Vince suspects his friend knows something but Bart is unwilling to talk about it. As they grow to adulthood, the two friends drift apart and have little contact for the next thirty years. The remaining questions from that summer are answered as Bart lay on his deathbed and Vince is summoned to a final sad reunion. He relives many of the events from a time when they were young, brash and fearless and the memories come flooding back in detail. One question remains - Whatever happened to their old friend Wizzer? He gets his answer as he is reunited with many of the old gang from Lagrange Street and that fateful summer. Annie, Betty, Mikey, Moose and Nick the Cop are just a few of the colorful characters in the tale of Jack's Hot Dog.